And Then There's Us
by Bryan Greenberg
Summary: The plan was to work together to get Spinelli out of this mess. They should have remembered that things are never that simple with the two of them.
1. Chapter 1

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**And Then There's Us**

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As Sam closed the door after Lucky, she let out a shaky breath. Whatever Lucky said about working things out, she knew this was the end of their relationship. If she was honest with herself, she knew this had been coming, but that didn't mean the circumstances didn't hurt her.

Samantha McCall hadn't spent her formative years running cons to be self-conscious about her looks. She was beautiful and she knew it. Her thick, dark hair was a perfect compliment to her striking features, and her body was enough to make even the most loyal of husbands to stray. And they had strayed. It wasn't something she was necessarily proud of, but she'd learned the hard way that she couldn't keep apologizing for who she was and who she had been.

At least she thought she'd learned. So, why now does she feel like she's right back where she was a year and a half ago? She seemed to have a nasty habit of ending up in relationships where she was never going to measure up to Port Charles's resident baby mamma.

She took a deep breath. She may have ended up in the same situation as before, but she wasn't going to lose herself this time. She would stay strong. She certainly didn't need Lucky. She didn't need what their relationship had become lately. Somehow her saving Jake had changed their relationship from "I love you, I trust you, I want to move in with you" to "Let me have my family time, I'll call you later for a fuck." She wasn't going to let herself be degraded for that.

She had done a lot of self-discovery in the time since her breakup with Jason. She knew that. But she also knew that wasn't the only reason she was reacting differently to this break up. She had told Lucky she loved him, she had thought she did. But she had always known she didn't love him in the way she loved Jason. She had long ago resigned herself to never feeling that way again.

Sam allowed herself a moment to sit on the couch and wallow in self-pity. She planned a night of junk food, ice cream, and girlie, tearjerker movies out in her head. She considered calling Maxie, to see if her young friend was up for a night of commiserating, and Elizabeth bashing, though she wasn't sure if that was appropriate considering Maxie's history with Lucky.

She was just reaching for the phone to call her anyway, when it began to ring. She looked at the caller ID. Unavailable. She shrugged her shoulders and answered.

"Hello?"

"Ms. McCall," the gravelly voice of an old man responded.

"Mr. Zacchara," she said, "What can I do for you?"

"I have a job for you tonight," he began, getting straight to business. "I need you to bring in a shipment. Everything goes straight through me on this one. Don't let my son in law trick you into giving him information. I know you two used to fuck."

" Sonny and I haven't even spoken in a long time," She replied, "And as I told you in our last meeting, I don't let my personal life interfere with my work. You can count on me."

Zacchara snorted audibly. "If that's true, you're the only one of your gender. But I'll give you this one shot. Pier 17. 11 o'clock. You'll receive instructions for exactly what needs to be done when you get there."

Before she could respond, Sam heard the soft click, indicating he had disconnected. She sighed. Her wallowing night would have to wait. Getting Spinelli out of this mess was more important than her damaged ego.

She looked at the clock, and realized she didn't have much time to get ready and get to the docks. She quickly gathered her jacket and her bag and then picked up the phone to call Jason. She didn't' want to go into this without someone knowing where she was. Anthony may say he's giving her a chance, but she can't afford to trust him.

She can't help but smile at Jason's insistence that she be careful. It had been a long time since she felt like he actually cared what happened to her. She wasn't quite sure how they got to this place where they're almost friends, but she liked it.

"Just do me a favor. If you don't hear from me by two in the morning? Come look for me," she finished, before hanging up and heading out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Jason sat at his desk, trying to do some paper work. He knew that, as the boss, he could get someone else to do this stuff, but he kind of liked the mind-numbing distraction of number crunching.

He glanced at his watch for what he would deny was the hundredth time that night. One AM. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. Still an hour before Sam told him to look for her. He knew Sam could handle herself, but he didn't know if he could live with it if Sam got hurt yet again due to her association with him.

He tried to return in attention to the numbers in front of him, but he could feel Spinelli's eyes focusing on him from his spot on the couch. He turned around and looked at Spinelli.

"What is it?" he asked, frustrated.

"The Grasshopper has noticed that Stone Cold is uncharacteristically distracted tonight. Does this have anything to do with the distressing situation with the Federal Ones? About a certain unnamed deal, perhaps?" Spinelli focused on Jason in that earnest and mournful way he had.

"I told you to leave it alone, Spinelli," Jason repeated yet again.

"But if Stone Cold…"

"Stop it, Spinelli," Jason interrupted, "I'm handling this. You can help by leaving it alone. Spend time with Maxie, play your computer games, and, whatever you do, don't hack into anything."

Spinelli huffed, and his face formed a little pout. He opened his mouth to argue, but was abruptly cut off by the silencing glare Jason sent in his direction.

To Jason's relief, Spinelli picked up his ever-present laptop and trudged to his room after sending one last pout in his mentor's direction. Jason wasn't naïve enough to think this was the end of Spinelli's interference on the matter, but he was glad to be done with it for the night.

He rubbed his forehead again and returned to the papers in front of him where he spent the next ten minutes adding the same row of numbers. After getting four different subtotals, he decided it was a lost cause for the night and glanced at his watch yet again.

1:30.

He decided that enough was enough. Two was a late estimate, and Sam should be done by now. He'd rather jeopardize a potential source of information than jeopardize her life. He was heading to the pier now.

He'd grabbed his coat and was headed out the door when his phone rang. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw Sam's name on the caller ID.

"Morgan," he answered.

"Hey," she replied. Her voice was tired, but he couldn't detect any distress at all. "Everything went fine."

"Good," he said shortly, "I'm heading to your place now. We shouldn't have this conversation over the phone."

"Ok, but…"

"I'll see you in a few minutes," he cut her off, hanging up the phone. He didn't want to hear what her protest was for him coming over. He wanted to make sure she wasn't covering up any injuries or other problems. He was quick to rationalize his need for her to be safe; she had just saved his son's life, she was helping him get Spinelli out of this mess. Whatever the reason, he wasn't going to be able to concentrate on anything until he was certain she was ok.

As he approached her building, Jason's pace slowed. Going to her place was a risk. They would have to set up a system and place to meet for the future. For now, he'd just have to be careful before going in.

He glanced around the area, looking for anything or anyone that suggested Zacchara had someone watching Sam's building. When he saw nothing, he quickly approached the building and entered.

He remained alert as he went up the elevator to Sam's apartment. He'd have preferred to take the stairs, but that was as impractical in getting up to Sam's penthouse as it was his own.

He knocked softly as he approached her door, his eyes scanning the hallway, though he didn't think Zacchara's people would find a place to be inconspicuous in this hallway in the middle of the night. If he were going to be seen, it would have been downstairs.

After a few minutes, Sam opened the door for Jason to enter. She quickly glanced around the hallway before closing and locking the door.

Jason quickly glanced up and down her pajama-clad body, searching for cuts or bruises or any obvious signs that the night had not gone as well as she claimed. He made a concerted effort to not let his gaze linger on her breasts.

Sam cleared her throat after the silence had gone long enough to be awkward. She crossed her arms over her chest, and her cheeks were tinged with a slight pink.

"I'm not sure it's such a good idea for you to be here, Jason," she mentioned, moving her weight from one foot to the other.

"I know," he agreed, "We'll make a plan for future meetings tonight so we don't have to risk it again. I was careful though."

She nodded. "Well, if you hadn't hung up on me I would have told you I don't have much to tell from tonight. I couldn't risk anything suspicious on the first job or I wouldn't have gotten another one."

"Good," he replied, "Good that you're being careful."

She gave him a look that told him that shouldn't have even been a question. "There was something special about tonight's shipment, though. Zacchara did the whole thing behind Sonny's back. It's supposed to stay in the warehouse for over a week, though. So, I'll try and get in there and get some info on it when I've gained a little more trust."

"Ok, sounds good," Jason said with a short nod, "Just… stay safe."

She gave him a small smile. "I will. I promise."

"Ok, good," he said, running his hand through his short spiky hair, "I guess we should make a plan for future meets and for you to tell me when your jobs are going to be."

"Yeah," she replied, biting her lip pensively, "Well, from the information I have so far, it's mostly going to be same time same place. So, let's say I'll call you from the payphone at the mall on the days that I'm going to be bringing in a shipment. And if I let it ring once, it means pier 17 at 11 o'clock. If it rings twice, I'll right two numbers on the corner of the Arts and Leisure section of the paper I leave at Kelly's every morning. First number is the pier, second is the time. Good?"

Jason nodded slowly. "Ok, that works. But keep your eyes open for anyone suspicious watching you when you're leaving the note at Kelly's. And I'll watch when I'm going to pick it up. Three rings means we need to meet up that night and come up with a new plan."

"Good, then we just need a meet place."

"You remember the safe house from when you were pregnant? The one you were at when we were clearing you from killing your mother?"

She nodded, swallowing visibly. "I remember," she said quietly.

"Ok," he said, his eyes meeting hers. Their eyes held as he slowly backed towards the door. "I guess I'll see you next time you get a job."

His back hit the door softly. He blinked, breaking the eye contact. He took a quick peek out the peephole before disappearing through the door and into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Sam navigated the dark streets of Port Charles quietly, keeping her eyes and ears open for anything suspicious that could mean she was being followed. She sighed. She knew the time was quickly approaching two AM, and she needed to get the safe house before then so Jason didn't go searching for her. It wouldn't do anyone any good for an increasingly antsy Jason to blow her cover.

It had been nearly a week since Sam brought in her first shipment for Zacchara. She had brought in three shipments since then and each time, without fail, she would meet Jason at the safe house so she could tell him what had gone down.

She had spent the week bringing in each shipment without a hitch. Before each one she had been reminded that Sonny didn't know anything about these shipments and the cost of informing him of them in any way was more than her job. Sam, of course, had no intention of discussing any of this with Sonny, but she didn't even want to imagine what the cost of betraying Zacchara to Jason was. The man was insane, and she was certain he had an arsenal of creative ways to torture her before killing her.

She glanced behind her and picked up her pace as she approached the safe house, shaking all thoughts of torture from her mind. She approached the door and knocked softly three times before opening the door and entering.

She immediately ran into something solid upon entering the safe house. It was clear that Jason had been heading out of the house and had missed the sound of her gentle knocking. Sam rolled her eyes and headed towards the couch, wanting to get off her feet.

"You're late," Jason said, coming to sit next to her.

She glanced at her watch and sighed. "It's just two now, Jason."

He blinked at her and looked down at his hands. "You're later than you usually are," he conceded.

She nodded. "Tonight's was different," she explained, "I think it's the last one of whatever Zacchara is trying to hide from Sonny. There were some extra security measures, and it took a little longer."

Jason nodded. "I'm just glad you're ok."

She gave him a tight smile. "I'm ok Jason, but you have to let me do this. If you're wound so tight that you jump at every second late and every car backfiring you're only going to put me, and yourself, in more danger."

He sighed completely aware that she was right. It wasn't like him to worry this much about what ifs. But it also wasn't like him to let a civilian, an innocent of sorts, be this involved in the business. He wasn't sure how to handle not being the one in the most danger.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'll calm down." He looked down, embarrassed at his show of vulnerability.

She gave him a small smile. "There's no one else I'd have as backup. I just need you to chill a little." She touched his hand, hoping he would look at her. When he glanced up, their eyes met, and just for a moment they stayed there, connected.

She blinked and drew in a quick breath, quickly moving her hand. "Anyway, since this was the last of the shipments we need a plan to get to whatever is inside of them to see if they're a smoking gun for the feds against Zacchara. I don't know for sure what's in the packages, but I'm nearly certain it's illegal. And this may be our best shot to get him and leave Sonny out of it."

Jason raised an eyebrow at her. "You care about that?"

She snorted. "Not particularly," she admitted, "But I know you do, and that's enough."

"The shipments have all been moved to a new warehouse tonight," she continued, "We need to get in there and see what's in them before Zacchara moves them. I really don't think we want to find out what his plans are for them."

Jason nodded thoughtfully. "Tomorrow night?" he suggested, "We'll have to distract his guards. Unless we can't help it, I don't want any of them to see you. There's no need to blow your cover, or put you in danger, if this doesn't end up giving us what we need."

She nodded thoughtfully before pulling out a pen and a receipt from her purse. "This is the layout of the warehouse," she said, drawing on the back of the receipt, "And there are guards here and here…"

Jason leaned over her shoulder as they began to formulate a plan for the following night. He couldn't help but smile at the intensity of her expression as she brushed her hair behind her ear and continued to scribble away on the small receipt, occasionally accepting his input on the plan.

There was a comfort to this give and take that neither of them had felt for a long time. They had always had a perfect mixture of trust and respect that wasn't duplicated in either of their other relationships, romantic or platonic, and, experiencing it now, Jason was surprised he had managed to ignore the gaping hole his estrangement from Sam had left in his life.

"Did we leave anything out?" she asked, finally glancing up from the receipt.

Jason shook his head slowly, going over the possibilities for the next night in his head. "I think we've got ever contingency covered," he commented, "Plus some."

She nodded thoughtfully. "I think we're set for tomorrow, but, Jason, there's something we've been ignoring, and I think we really need to get it out in the open."

Jason's eyes widened, not quite sure what she was getting at, but his mind was going places that he wasn't ready to talk about yet. "Sam, I don't think…"

"Not talking about it doesn't make it any less true, Jason," she said with a sigh, rubbing her hand over her face.

"Ok," he relented, "Go ahead."

"I think we both know that getting Zacchara for Raynor isn't going to be the end of this," she stated.

"What?" Jason said, not expecting this topic of conversation. "Oh, yeah."

"I mean, this won't make his evidence on Spinelli go away," she continued, "What's to stop him from continuing to force you to do his dirty work?"

"Nothing," Jason said, "I know."

"So, do you have a plan on how to deal with that?" she asked, "Because I want to be in on it."

"No, no plan," he admitted, "Other than to give him Zacchara and gain a little time to figure it out. I just have no idea how I'm going to get out of this." He was still a little shaken at the direction he'd thought the conversation was going, but he was quickly sobering at the knowledge that this was far from over no matter what went down the next night.

Sam recognized his frustration at the thought and tried to give him a reassuring smile. "Ok," she said, "Then we'll work with that. After we finish with Zacchara, you and I will figure out how to get rid of that evidence, ok?"

Jason nodded and smiled at her.

"We make a good team," she commented, gesturing with her hand holding their plans for the next night. "The FBI won't know what hit 'em."

Sam leaned back into the couch, making herself comfortable now that they had at least addressed the issue of what came next. Her adrenaline was wearing off and her week of long stressful nights was catching up with her and her eyelids began to droop closed.

Jason knew he should wake her, and that they both should head home. It wasn't safe for them to stay in the same place together for too long. But she looked so peaceful drifting to sleep, and he couldn't quite bring himself to disturb her. So instead he watched her for a few minutes before drifting to sleep himself.


	4. Chapter 4

It's short, but it didn't take a month, so that's a success.

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**Chapter 4**

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Sam's eyes blinked open early the next morning. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. She rubbed her eyes, brushing the sleep from them, before stretching and looking around. Jason wasn't there, but the spot beside her was still warm, indicating that he hadn't been gone for long.

She didn't remember falling asleep the night before. The last thing she remembered was their discussion about the next phase of their plan. After that was just a vague sensation of comfort and belonging until she had woken up. She wasn't surprised that, in her exhaustion, she had fallen asleep, but she did question why Jason had allowed her to remain in the safe house all night. The answer to that question as well as the cause of her feeling of comfort were both a little to scary for her to contemplate at the moment, so she busied herself with rising and preparing to leave without being spotted.

She stood, and ran her fingers through her hair, straightening the tangles that had found her way into her hair while she slept, before moving towards the bathroom. She smiled at the smell of coffee coming from the kitchen as she passed, and she headed straight there after relieving her bladder.

Taped to the coffee pot was a small yellow note with Jason's distinctive handwriting scrawled across it. She grabbed the note and read it while she poured coffee into the mug sitting next to the pot.

Sam –

I figured I'd get out of here so we weren't seen leaving together. I didn't see anything suspicious when I looked around outside this morning, so I think we're fine. Enjoy the coffee before you rush out of here, and I'll see you tonight.

Jason

She smiled. He must have known the smell of coffee would be an immediate draw for her. His assertion that they hadn't endangered themselves by spending the night here was a relief. She knew had there been anything suspicious at all, he wouldn't have been so cavalier about it. Especially with how nervous he had been about everything she was doing lately.

She finished her coffee and cleaned up the kitchen before heading out the door, making sure to scan the area before quickly exiting and heading towards her apartment.

Sam couldn't keep the smile from her face as she walked through the quiet of the early morning, her eyes and ears alert. She hadn't felt this content in a long while, despite her nerves at what was to come that night. The smile continued to light her face right up until she got off the elevator to her apartment where she stopped short and rolled her eyes.

"Sonny," she said shortly, addressing the man leaning against her doorway.

"Out all night?" He asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

She sighed and pushed him aside as she went to open the door. "I don't know in what universe that's your business," she said shortly.

"It's my business because you work for me," he claimed, entering the apartment behind her, "How do I know you weren't with your cop boyfriend telling him all about the Zacchara organization?"

Sam gave him a scathing look and raised a single eyebrow. "I work for Anthony Zacchara, a fact he has made perfectly clear to me."

Sonny glared at her. "I am the head of the Zacchara organization," he said, "If you work for Anthony, you work for me."

She sighed and ignored him, walking into her kitchen and turning on a pot of coffee. The single cup she had was certainly not enough to deal with Sonny. She wasn't surprised to turn around and find he had followed her, though she'd hoped he wouldn't.

"What are you moving for him?" he asked, getting straight to the point of his visit.

Sam rolled her eyes, briefly wondering if this much eye rolling could have long term effects on her vision. "Yeah, I'm really not telling you that."

Sonny stared at her and grabbed her arm, obviously hoping to intimidate an answer from her. "I am the head of the Zacchara organization," he repeated.

"That's great," Sam replied, "But Anthony Zacchara hired me, and specifically instructed me to not tell you a damn thing. He's more intimidating than you could ever hope to be, so get the fuck out of my apartment, Sonny." She shook her arm from his grasp and pointed him towards the door. "And never touch me again."

Sonny glared at her once more time before storming out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

Sam sighed. She knew this wasn't going to be the end of her problems with Sonny, whether they nailed Zacchara tonight or not. The man had never deserved Jason's loyalty.

She poured a cup of coffee and headed to the bedroom to ready herself for the day. She had a lot to do if tonight's plan was going to go smoothly.


End file.
